resources tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008-03-11:/resources//4 2008-07-30T20:29:35Z Reviews and recommendations of books, websites, workshops, blogs, magazines, and other resources to help local churches. Movable Type 4.1 BOOK: One Size Doesn't Fit all tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.215 2008-07-30T20:16:39Z 2008-07-30T20:29:35Z Growth and health principles for churches of any size. Reviewed by Adam Wil. Steve Dennie One Size Doesn't Fit All: Bringing Out the Best in Any Size Church, by Gary McIntosh, is written as a fictional series of meetings between a young pastor and a mentor, who helps him discover growth and health principles for a church of any size. Great book! I've read it several times. 

Submitted by Adam Will
Senior Pastor, Eden UB Church (Reedsville, Ohio.)
Published by Revel, 1999. 176 pages. See it on Amazon.
]]> BOOK: In the Name of Jesus tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.195 2008-07-14T12:22:03Z 2008-07-14T12:33:35Z A book on leadership, by Henri Nouwen. Reviewed by Todd Fetters. Steve Dennie inthenameofjesus.jpegIn the Name of Jesus, by Henri Nouwen, is small (77 pages), but is a wonderful book on leadership. Nouwen's thoughts are structured around the three temptations of Christ (Matthew 4:1-12) and three keys statements from Jesus to Peter in the disciple's reinstatement passage (John 21:15-19). The third section of each part offers a "discipline" for the Christian leader to apply. Here is the basic outline: 

Part I: From Relevance to Prayer
1. The Temptation: To be relevant
2. The Question: Do you love Me? 
3. The Discipline: Contemplative prayer

Part II: From Popularity to Ministry
1. The Temptation: To be spectacular
2. The Task: Feed My Sheep
3. The Discipline: Confession and Forgiveness

Part III: From Leading to Being Led
1. The Temptation: To be powerful
2. The Challenge: Somebody else will take you
3. The Discipline: Theological reflection 

Submitted by Todd Fetters
Senior Pastor, Devonshire Church (Harrisburg, Pa.)
Published by Crossroad, 1993. 77 pages. See it on Amazon.

]]> BOOK: Building Strategic Relationships tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.171 2008-06-26T13:03:11Z 2008-06-26T13:06:29Z Guidelines for partnering with churches in other countries. Submitted by Jeff Bleijerveld. Steve Dennie Partnering with a local church or national conference in another country sounds like a great idea. But what happens when the "romance" ends and reality takes over? Relationships take a lot of work, and often, what partners consider helpful can actually hinder the work of God. 

Building Strategic Relationships, by  Daniel Rickett, is a very practical book, full of checklists and practical suggestions. The author begins with values, and a discussion of dependency, giving, receiving, and accountability dominates a good portion of the rest of the book. If you are, or are considering a partnership with an overseas leader or church, this book is absolutely indispensible. 

Submitted by Jeff Bleijerveld
Director of Global Ministries
Published by Winepress Publishing, 2003. 96 pages. See it on Amazon.

]]> BOOK: Loving the Church, Blessing the Nations tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.170 2008-06-26T12:48:16Z 2008-06-26T12:59:13Z The role of local churches in global missions. Submitted by Jeff Bleijerveld. Steve Dennie
Traveling to foreign lands and relating to people of other cultures is no longer restricted to missionaries and mission agencies. There is no better time for local churches to rediscover the role God intended for them to serve as centers of mission vision and implementation.

Loving the Church, Blessing the Nations, by George Miley, walks the reader through the biblical basis for mission, the history of the local church's involvement, and the need to identify "apostolic" gifting in our day and age. This is essential reading for every pastor and every mission commission leader.

Submitted by Jeff Bleijerveld
Director of Global Ministries
Published by Authentic, 1969. 224 pages. See it on Amazon. ]]> e-Sword Macros tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.75 2008-05-01T18:12:46Z 2008-05-01T18:19:48Z Insert Scripture directly into your Word documents. Steve Dennie Most of you are probably familiar with the e-Sword Bible software at e-sword.net. (It's free but a donation is encouraged.) But maybe you missed the macros they have for searching and inserting scripture directly from Microsoft Word. The macros are located at the bottom of the Downloads/ Extras section. They have one available for most versions of Word. (Sorry, PC only.) I like to insert Scripture passages right into my sermon notes and this little tool makes it a snap. 

Submitted by Tom Brodbeck
Senior pastor, Zanesville UB (Zanesville, Ind.)
]]> BOOK: Communicating for a Change tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.62 2008-04-15T17:22:35Z 2008-04-15T17:30:20Z Insights into preaching for the goal of life-change. Steve Dennie One of the most influential books I have read lately is Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication, by Andy Stanley.  It is an easy read, but gives some profound insight into preaching for a goal, and that goal is life change.  

I found it a very refreshing tune-up for my preaching skills. I read this book for a class at the Grad School (Communicating the Word) taught by Dave DeSelm. The class was also very refreshing and a great tune-up for preaching, or for anyone who regularly communicates. I would highly recommend this class to anyone, especially if it has been a long time since you took an actual seminary based class.

Submitted by Greg Voight
Senior pastor of Lancaster UB, Lancaster, Ohio
Published by Multnomah Books, June 2006. 208 pages. See it on Amazon.
]]> WEBSITE: Videos on Bluefishtv.com tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.61 2008-04-14T20:33:19Z 2008-04-14T20:46:59Z Christian video clips at a very good price. Steve Dennie bluefishtv.jpgBluefishTV.com provides really good Christian video clips at a very cheap price: just $1.99 each. Most places, like SermonSpice.com, charge at least $15, and the quality isn't any better than what you find on BluefishTV. You can get the clips in Quicktime or MPEG format. 

My church has used several videos from BluefishTV.com (I have no idea where that name came from). The interface works easily, and the videos can be imported into Powerpoint or used by themselves. When looking for a video clip, I start at BluefishTV, because you can't beat the price. You'll also find some clips for higher costs, $4.99, which is still pretty cheap.

Submitted by Steve Dennie
Anchor Community Church (Fort Wayne, Pa.)
]]> BOOK: The Forgotten Ways tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.59 2008-04-14T00:34:15Z 2008-04-14T20:47:51Z Understanding kingdom movements. Submitted by Anthony Blair. Steve Dennie This is a follow-up to The Shaping of Things to Come, Alan Hirsch's co-authored work (with Michael Frost), one of the best books on ministry I've read in recent years. I don't agree with everything Hirsch says, but I do appreciate his historical analysis of kingdom movements, his understanding of mDNA, and the six components of mission. His central question is to understand the factors that create a massive movement of the kingdom of God, independent of cultural factors, church structure, and doctrinal peculiarities. Good question.

Submitted by Anthony Blair
Dean of Academic Affairs, Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa.
Published by Brazos Press, January 2007. 304 Pages. See it on Amazon.
]]> BOOK: God's Word in Human Words tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.58 2008-04-13T22:35:05Z 2008-04-14T00:41:40Z Author Kenton Sparks discusses the nature of biblical scholarship in the 21st century. Submitted by Anthony Blair. Steve Dennie This is a provocative book, and one with which the average evangelical reader will disagree, some aggressively so. But it's worth reading. The author, Kenton Sparks, is an evangelical biblical scholar who makes the argument that much of higher biblical criticism can and should be appropriated by evangelicals. Even if one does not agree with Sparks, it is helpful to understand the nature of biblical scholarship in the early 21st century, as it has changed considerably in recent decades.

Submitted by Anthony Blair
Dean of Academic Affairs, Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa.
Published by Baker Academic, March 2008. 416 pages. See on Amazon.
]]> MAGAZINE: Books & Culture tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.35 2008-04-10T20:09:56Z 2008-04-13T21:22:52Z A magazine from Christianity Today that requires some critical thinking. Submitted by Anthony Blair. Steve Dennie Book & Culture: A Christian Review is Christianity Today's answer to the New York Review of Books. Editor John Wilson manages to provide reviews of and essays on topics that appeal to the thinking Christian, often on matters that one does not necessarily distinguish as "Christian" to begin with.

Coverage ranges from history to politics to economics to environmentalism to culture to church stuff to academia...quite the spectrum. Contributors are something of a "who's who" of American evangelical Christianity. Always worth reading but requires some critical thinking.

Submitted by Anthony Blair
Dean of Academic Affairs, Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa.
Published bi-monthly by Christianity Today Inc. Cost: $24.95 a year. You can get a free trial issue through the Books & Culture website.
]]> BOOK: The Very Large Church tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.13 2008-03-24T18:28:02Z 2008-04-13T21:20:40Z Helping the church understand the culture. Submitted by Ron Ramsey. Steve Dennie The Very Large Church, by Lyle E. Schaller, has nothing to do with large churches or small churches. Rather, it is one of the more excellent books I've read describing the culture we live in. The chapter "The Consequences of Consumerism" should be required reading for every pastor, staffperson, board chairman, commission chairman...in other words, anyone in leadership in your church.

Mr. Schaller has a very perceptive mind as it relates to understanding church and culture. I dare say that this book will answer some of the questions you've been asking for some time, regardless of the size of your church.
Submitted by Ron Ramsey, Bishop
Published in April 2000 by Abingdon Press. 256 pages.
See on Amazon
]]> BOOK: Discipled Warriors tag:www.healthyministryresources.com,2008:/resources//4.12 2008-03-24T18:16:10Z 2008-04-13T21:20:53Z Laying a foundation for church health. Submitted by Ron Ramsey. Steve Dennie I have basically bought in to the concept that healthy churches are growing churches, and that it is possible to establish criteria to describe a healthy church. However, I was a little uncomfortable with the fact that the arguments for are so pragmatic.

I recently came across an excellent book written by Chuck Lawless in 2002, Discipled Warriors. The sub-title is: "Growing Healthy Churches that are Equipped for Spiritual Warfare."

Lawless contends that church health must be based on a theological foundation, and then the healthy church principles build from that foundation. I found it to be an encouraging and challenging book, one you might want to add to your library.
Submitted by Ron Ramsey, Bishop.
Published December 2002 by Kregel Academic & Professional. 224 pages. See on Amazon.
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